Tuesday, July 31, 2012

We now have dining room curtains! We loveee them. I was a little nervous about the pattern, but once they were up they fit perfectly with the rest of the house.

When I was gone this past weekend visiting my Meme and Granddad, my precious husband continued to paint...so...we are almost done! I am hoping to finish this weekend. We are painting the living room, dining room, and kitchen Mourning Dove by Martha Stewart Paints. I saw it over on this blog and loved how it looked with almost any accent color.

This weekend my girlfriends and I are headed to First Monday in Canton. If you have never been you have to go! It is amazing. I am in search of something to hang over our fireplace...not exactly sure what I want, but I'm hoping that when I see it, I fall in love.

What to go over the fireplace...

Along with a hopeful Canton find, I am looking to do something like this on one of the huge blank walls we have. I want to frame sentimental items instead of having a giant collage of Chris and I. I'm not looking to turn our home into a Chris and Sarah shrine. Gag-me. I want to frame pictures of the dogs, maybe our wedding invitation, and other nick-knacks that I have been holding onto for years thinking that I would someday cherish it. Here's to wishful thinking! I am going to use these white frames from Ikea in all sizes.

Monday, July 30, 2012

This past weekend was tough. I traveled to Austin visit my Meme and Granddad. Meme is not doing so well and all prayers are very much appreciated.

She suffers from Aspiration. Aspiration - in non-doctor terms - is when she swallows her food it is not going down the right pipe. It is going into her lungs instead of her stomach. To add to the complication, Meme doesn't even want to eat, no one is feeding her, and she is not being put on a feeding tube.

My brother, Sam and Meme and Grand

When we went to see her she looked beautiful. Hair done, colorful clothes on, and her always perfect, dewy skin (I hope I got the perfect skin gene!). She was a feisty ole' lady. She was coherent at times, but most of the time she just laid back in her chair with her eyes shut. Almost every question you ask her she responded with, "No, ugh-uh!" Until you mentioned Emory, her beloved husband of over 64 years. She knows that he loves her very much and that she loves him. She would reply with a stern, "Yes!" when asked if one of her family members loved her or if she loved them.

All the cousins with our Meme and Grand

We tried to get her to eat, but were unsuccessful. Instead of worrying that she hadn't eaten in three days, we just wanted to enjoy the precious moments we were able to spend with her. At 84, if she doesn't want to eat then that is her right. She has lived a long and blessed life and I am honored to be called her Granddaughter.

Granddad was doing okay. He had his moments of weakness, but having all the family around brought him joy.

The whole, happy family!

My Dad and I got choked up when he came into the "Memory Care" area and Meme lit up. She knows who her man is! They were adorable together. He was loving on her and it brought tears to my eyes to think how in love they are after all these years. Meme got jealous when she saw a picture of her and Granddad together because she thought that was another woman with her man! She said, "No! I want Emory all to myself!" That makes my heart melt!

There were some light-hearted moments...like when my brother was talking to her. Picture the scene...My almost 18 year old brother standing by her side as she slouch in a chair, eyes shut, and no reaction to anything you are saying. Sam, my brother, was telling her how he was about to start his senior season of football and how he would be turning 18 in October, to which Meme sat up and shouted, "You're stupid!!" Although deep down we all know that it breaks our hearts to see her like that, in reality, it lightened the mood! We know she means well. Having her, and many other elderly people in the area, make us laugh all day was necessary to keep from balling your eyes out.

Old picture of my brother and I visiting Meme and Grand.

Who knows when God will take another angel up to be with him, but for now, I know that I have been blessed with many wonderful memories with a woman who means so much to me, Meme.

You can see Meme and Granddad dancing to their first dance song at my wedding here or here. I am beyond thankful they were able to make the trip to Dallas to celebrate my special day with me.

Chris's Mom, Terry, and sister, Lauren, came over last Thursday to hangout and have dinner (His Dad was in Colorado, so he missed out!). Chris and I have been loving our Crock-Pot that we got for our wedding (Thank you Tony and Leann!). For this occasion I decided to throw together a pork, rice, and gravy concoction. I based it off of this recipe.

Here is the recipe I used:

1 package of boneless pork, country style ribs

1 package of onion soup mix

1 package of brown gravy mix

1 onion, chopped

1 1/2 cups of beef broth

1 can of cream of chicken soup

Place the pork at the bottom of the Crock-Pot. Mix all the other ingredients in a bowl and pour over the pork. Cook on low for 6 1/2 hours.

I served it over rice and it was to die for.

Chris's family has their own secret recipe for pork, rice, and gravy, so I was nervous about their reaction. They loved it! His mom even wanted the recipe!

Thursday, July 26, 2012

With the stress that comes along with life (in general), it is nice to know that no matter what, these little goobers will always love you!

Every morning when I get ready for work Wrigley and Bailey lay in the bedroom and take their 3rd, 4th, I don’t know maybe 5th nap of the morning. Life as a Tucker pup is brutal. This is how Wrigley naps. All. The. Time.

Chris got Bailey before him and I started dating. Long story short, she was being given away in a Wal-Mart parking lot. She is a Daddy’s girl deluxe!

Wrigley came into our lives approximately three weeks after Chris and I started dating. Yes, we had only been “officially” dating for three weeks and we decided to get a dog together…on Friday, August 13th. You’d think that getting a dog with your new boyfriend on Friday the 13th would be a curse, but it looks like it is working out great so far!

We had been talking about how Bailey needed a friend to play with, but I didn’t think we were serious about it. Chris worked at the university’s gym and met a guy who fostered puppies. Chris convinced me to go see “Sam the boxer” at a PetSmart training class with him that Friday.

Off we went to PetSmart where Sam was being trained all the basic rules a dog should follow. Let’s just say Sam wasn’t catching on. As his foster parent walked him down the aisles of PetSmart, Sam was biting at and chewing on everything he could get his paws on! All Chris and I could think was all the things he would chew on if we brought him home. We politely thanked the guy and let him know we would be in touch if we were interested. That wasn’t going to happen!

Since we were already out and about for the day we decided to go to the East Texas Humane Society. Oh. My. Goodness. Warning: if you go, you will leave with a dog!

Right when you walk up all these dogs, in their divided up pens, start barking at you! You literally want to take every one of them home.

We told the people there that we were definitely only looking. That was until I spotted Wrigley, or Rambo as he was previously named. My heart melted. He was SUPER shaky and afraid of us. Apparently he had be beaten and left on the side of the road with his brother and sister (who were also cute, but they liked our friend better than us and we thought that wouldn’t be good if we were the owners!). Wrigley wouldn’t even come outside of the barn into the pen area because he was so scared.

When we requested to see him the dog keeper had to go inside the barn to get him. We got to bring him to the “visiting” area where he was not playful and very scared, but oh so adorable!

He literally stole my heart, and Chris’s. There was no way I was leaving there without him. After discussing how he was so calm and didn’t look as though he would chew everything in sight (like Sam!), Chris and I were signing papers to take Rambo…Wrigley…home with us!

When we introduced Bailey to Wrigley and she wanted nothing, nothing!, to do with him. He would try to touch her and she would move away. Then he would scoot closer and she would scoot away. Eventually they developed an unbreakable bond. They are two peas in a pod.

Friday we (Chris) decided we should play golf. I would never agree to play golf in Texas where you literally could cook because it is so hot, but golf in Hawaii didn't sound too bad. It was our last day in Kauai and just spending quality time with my hubby was all I wanted. The views while golfing were amazing. We were literally playing right on the water. I wasn't terrible, but I was getting blisters and that did not make me happy. But, all in all, Chris had a great time, and I did too :) I mastered my golf cart driving skills, photography skills, and I did do legitimately good on a couple holes. Chris loved every minute of it!

Yes, we are only on the driving range...and I'm ready to be done!

I have a softball swing...there's always room for improvement.

This was the part in the day when Chris was taking golf less seriously.

I introduce to you: Chris Tucker, The Golf Dancer...

And...he might have inspired me too...

After golf we headed back to the hotel where they were holding our bags. We showered in the "Owners Lounge" because we had to be out of our room at noon. We headed back to Duke's for one last meal and Hula Pie...and maybe one or two adult beverages. Hey, we were in for a long flight home! The rental car had to be back by 8:00pm so we returned it before catching the shuttle to the airport to catch out flight back to Texas!

Our honeymoon was more than we could have ever asked for. Relaxing and quality time with your best friend...can’t beat that! We hope to visit Hawaii again someday. Maybe Maui?!

What is your favorite island?! Is there a tropical place that you’d rather go?

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Thursday we decided to go back to Poipu, at the recommendation of our waitress at Café Portifino. She suggested that we go to "Old Town Koloa,” go to the Fish Market, get LauLau and Kalua Pork to-go, then head to Poipu Beach to snorkel. Instead of renting snorkel gear she suggested we ask the life guards. Who knew?!

So, off in our little Jeep Patriot we went. We went to the fish market and OMG I have no idea what I was eating, but it was amazing! Literally the best pork and mystery items we have ever had. Chris was devouring it! After we ate like we had never eaten before, we walked around and shopped. We bought homemade soap and candles and, of course, we had ice cream :) After we were all shopped out, we headed to the beach!

It was a beautiful day! We snorkeled a little. Saw some very colorful fish and even a huge sea turtle. We didn't actually see the turtle while we were snorkeling, but once we got out of the water he swam right up to the bank. We hung out at the beach all day; read, snacked, and just enjoyed not being in the 100+ degree Texas heat. Did I mention that it is always perfect temperature there? Well it is. It's about 77-86. Every. Single. Day. Perfection!

We had been at the beach for about four hours when the waves started growing and the lifeguards put up all these warning signs. Apparently the surf had come in. We don’t experience that in Texas, so it was cool to watch it unfold so quickly. It was crazy how fast it went from calm, glass-like water, to a raging ocean. We decided we had had enough sand, salt, and sun, so we packed up and headed to the hotel.

We headed straight to have dinner at the cheap breakfast place we had been eating at. They said they had great burgers and they were right! They were delicious. We had "Taro" fries, which is some Hawaiian potato or something. Who knows, but it was good!

Have you ever been to Poipu Beach?! Snorkeled and seen anything cool?!